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16 Comments

$100 Billion Might Persuade Regulators to Block Google/Yahoo Ad Deal

posted on September 8, 2008

If you were in charge of approving or denying Google’s search ad deal with Yahoo, would $100 billion influence your decision?

I’m not talking about a check with your name in the "PAY TO" section, but a protest letter from a group of advertisers that, combined, control $100 billion in marketing spend. Would that make you think twice about giving your stamp of approval?

Well, the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) just sent a letter to the antitrust division of the U.S. Department of Justice, citing its opposition to the Google-Yahoo search advertising deal. In a statement, the ANA stated:

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Google to Solve Search “Problem” by 2010?

posted on September 8, 2008

Happy Birthday to You; Happy Birthday to You; Happy Birthday Dear Google; Happy…

You get the point. Google just celebrated its tenth birthday and the LA Times put on the party hats and invited Marissa Mayer over for some birthday cake and a chat. During a Q&A session, Mayer reveals that Google is almost done figuring out search…

I think there will be a continued focus on innovation, particularly in search. Search is an unsolved problem. We have a good 90 to 95% of the solution, but there is a lot to go in the remaining 10%.

Putting aside the bold claim that Google has solved 95% of the search "problem"–I’d argue there’s plenty more than 10% innovation left–the search engine should be on track to completely solve search by the start of 2010. After all, it’s running at 9% a year right now. ;-)

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65 Comments

Google Bullies Twitter Into Adding Nofollow

posted on September 5, 2008

I’ve decided to add my disdain to Google’s request to Twitter to add a nofollow to links contained within the bio section of user profiles.

Rae Hoffman is not afraid to stand-up for what’s right, and I’m happy to lend my support. In case you missed the story, here’s what happened.

The “web” link has always been a nofollow link, but the bio links passed popularity until Dave Naylor exposed it, which alerted Matt Cutts (a Google engineer) who sent a tweet to @ev (a twitter founder) about Dave’s forementioned post and *poof* bio links were nofollowed.

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36 Comments

Watch the Jerry Seinfeld/Bill Gates TV Ad – Boring or Brilliant?

posted on September 5, 2008

If you didn’t catch last night’s airing of the new Microsoft TV ads, featuring Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates, you can watch it below:

Microsoft execs say that the ad is designed to start a discussion and that future ads will feature more information about Microsoft’s actual products.

Leave a comment and let me know your thoughts. Whether you love it or hate it, you can’t deny that it has everyone talking about Microsoft.

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21 Comments

Warning: Bebo Will Change Your Profile Without Warning or Input

posted on September 4, 2008

If you’ve paid attention to my advice about selecting your social networking profile name, you’ve likely carefully made your choice.

Well be warned; Bebo will change your profile name without notice and without any input from you.

Take a look at this email I recently received from Bebo:

=======

Andy Beal,

Your username has been changed by a Bebo administrator for security purposes. Sorry for the inconvenience.

New Username: AndyBeal_*******

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Please do not reply directly to this email.

If you have a question about the Bebo service:

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The Real News About Online Advertising

posted on September 4, 2008

As noted by Andy Beal earlier today there appears to be some unnecessary alarmism regarding the current state on online ad spends. I say unnecessary because as we have noted on another occasion the media really has a twisted sense of when the sky is falling. According to the Wall Street Journal today there is actually cause for celebration from the 2nd quarter numbers for Internet advertising rose 20%. So what’s your take? Should we panic and go back to smoke signals or just struggle through a sluggish 20% growth cycle?

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LinkedIn Partners with CNBC

posted on September 4, 2008

LinkedIn.com – a social site for professionals – is partnering with CNBC to integrate news and other content. LinkedIn has over 27 million members but until now has had very little community-buildling or social networking features.

Currently on LinkedIn you can email other professionals, ask them questions, and give or get recommendations from people in your network. Now you’ll also be able to share information with them – something that is happening informally anyway.

One way to build up your network is to send relevant news stories, blog posts, or videos that you think they’ll benefit from. With this partnership, that could be easier if the content is on CNBC. On CNBC’s site there is a section devoted to LinkedIn – though right now it’s at the very bottom of the page and it’s a poll. To answer the poll, you must be a member of LinkedIn.